Scottish woman mauled by bear as she snaps photo through car window in Romania

A Scottish woman was mauled by a bear as she put her hand out of the window as she took photographs from her car in Romania.

The woman, 72, who has not been named, was travelling on the Transfăgărășan highway, a road in Transylvania, Romania, which once featured on an episode of Top Gear and passes over the Fagaras mountains at a height of 2,000 metres.

She put her hand out the window to photograph the animal when it attacked her.

It is believed there are around 7,500 to 8,000 bears roaming Romanian forests. Picture: Cristiana Osan

She told local reporters she came from Scotland, and revealed her arm was "sore” after her run-in with the creature.

The woman said: 'We were in the car and we were going to take a picture. And the bears came up to the window.

She added: “I just wanted to take a picture of him.”

Locals said the area where the woman had stopped, near the Vidraru Dam, was known for its bear population.

"Where this lady was, the bears come next to the road to beg for food,” one local said. “Tourists often disobey rules and feed them or get too close.”

Her injuries were not believed to be life threatening.

Romanian media quoted the emergency services as saying that the woman had suffered injuries to her hand.

A spokesman said: “She has wounds on her hand, wounds from a bear bite. She in the Emergency Department. The first specialised care is given to her to stabilise her.”

Romanian authorities have warned of the dangers of approaching bears. Under Romanian law, anyone caught feeding wild animals risk fines.

After the attack, an emergency notice was issued in the surrounding area to tell residents to call the emergency number 112 if they see a bear near their home and to remain indoors.

It is believed there are around 7,500 to 8,000 bears roaming Romanian forests. In 2016, Romania banned the trophy hunting of large carnivores, such as bears and wolves. However, annual exceptions are granted for the sake of controlling the population amid a rise in the number of bear attacks in the country.

Last year, in the Romanian city of Brasov, a passer-by captured a video of a brown bear walking along a city street, just metres behind a woman walking her dog.

From 2016 to 2021, Romania recorded 154 bear attacks, which resulted in 14 deaths and 158 injuries, according to figures from Romania's environment ministry.

Last year, the government proposed to triple the number of bears to be culled each year in an effort to control the “overpopulation” of the species, in a move that could see as many as 426 bears shot and killed, up from 140 last year. The move sparked opposition from environmental groups. Bears are protected under the European Union’s habitats directive.